Beauty & the Beast:Space Shuttle
by mathewbailey081
Summary: Vincent,Catherine & their friends watch the event of a teacher going into space become a tragedy


Beauty & the Beast:Space Shuttle

Note:Christa McAuliffe,the first teacher in space was killed on January 28th,1986 aboard the space shuttle

Challenger along with six other astronauts when the shuttle exploded,73 seconds after launch.

A Beauty & the Beast story dedicated to female astronaut and school teacher Christa McAuliffe.

Written by Mathew Bailey

Tuesday January 28,1986,6:00 AM. In the Tunnels within one of the large main chambers,several televisions stood in

a semi-circle. They were used and several of the televisions had been borrowed from several electronics

& appliance stores,while the others were brought down from several Helpers' apartments. Lengths of television

cable were connected to them and snaked through a doorway into a tunnel and went off in two differnent directions

along the tunnel and disappeared beyond sight,suspended from the pipes that ran along it.

The work was courtesy of Mouse and his friends who had found two small concrete vaults,both housing cable TV

equipment. Several electrical cables also to which the TV's and extension cords which were plugged into them

ran along one length of the tunnel,beyond sight and eventually ended in an electrical room in an empty subway station.

The televisions had been in the large chamber,positioned like this days before. At launch pad 39B,

at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral,Florida,the space shuttle Challenger sat in its vertical upright position,

attached to its orange external fuel tank and its two white solid rocket boosters. At Kennedy Space Center,three

miles away from the launch pad,Challengers' crew was seated at breakfast at a table at which also sat a cake in the form

of the crew's Mission 51L insignia. Seated around the table ,left to right were the astronauts consisting of

first payload specialist Gregory B. Jarvis,second payload specialist and school teacher Christa McAuliffe,

3rd mission specialist Ronald E McNair,1st mission specialist Ellison S. Onizuka,2nd mission specialist

Judith A. Resnik,commander Francis R. Scobee and pilot Michael J. Smith.

Later,the Challenger crew began to board the astronaut van which took them to the launch pad. They began to board an elevator which

which took them to the awaiting crew access arm that was aligned with the shuttles' crew hatch which was already open.

Meanwhile in New York City,Catherine Chandler had arrived at the office where her friends were waiting.

There were televisions set up and tuned to CNN,which would be airing live coverage of the Teacher in Space mission.

Vincent earlier had tapped out a message to Catherine about the shuttle launch if no delays or other issues

kept it from being launched today. Vincent,several children from the Tunnels and Above,along with helpers,

tunnel dwellers,Father and Mouse were getting ready to watch the launch and already the televisions were

on within the large tunnel chamber where they were gathered. Back in Florida,NASA was dealing with two issues

with the shuttle. The previous night,ice had built on the shuttle's pad which had been cleared. A second delay was then caused

by a fire sensor which then was replaced. Everyone both in Florida and New York City within and above the Tunnels

knew about the launch being cancelled yesterday because of high winds and a stubborn hatch bolt.

For months,Vincent,Catherine and everyone else both within the Tunnels and Above had heard of Christa McAuliffe being

the first teacher in space and were eager to watch the launch. Tension and feelings rose as Vincent and others

saw the orbiter access arm followed by the external fuel tanks' oxygen vent arm move away from the top of the tank.

They heard the following come from Mission Control:"Coming up on the ninety second mark in our countdown."

"Ninety seconds and counting,the 51L mission ready to go." "T-minus one minute and counting,sound suppression water

now armed." "T-minus thirty seconds,we have a go for auto sequence start,we now have auto sequence start."

"T-minus 21 seconds." "T-minus 15 seconds." Cheers went up from Catherine's friends at her work place and also Vincent

loudly heard cheering from the tunnel dwellers and Helpers as Mission Control counted down the last seconds.

The pumps for the sound suppression water started and began showering the areas below the shuttle with water as

the launch pad engine igniters came to life with a loud snap and began showering the pad with sparks.

"T-minus ten,nine,eight,seven,six," The engines flashed then roared to life. "We have main engine start,

four,three, two,one,and liftoff,liftoff of the twenty fifth space shuttle mission and it has cleared the tower."

Then came what Vincent heard from the televisions. "Houston,Challenger,roll program." "Roger,roll,Challenger."

The shuttle began to slowly turn until the back of its fuel tank was in view.

"Engines now at 104 percent,Challenger now heading down range."The engines began to throttle down for several

seconds as Challenger rose at a diagonal angle and stayed there for several seconds. It was 11:38 am,

Florida and New York time and several seconds later it became 11:39 am. Catherine,Vincent and others heard

what became the final conversation between Mission Control and Challenger. "Challenger,go at throttle up."

"Roger,go at throttle up." came the final reply from Commander Francis Scobee.

Unseen by everyone,including Mission Control,the right solid rocket booster,leaking at one of its seams,

hot flames near the base of Challenger's external fuel tank,broke free from that area,spilling

liquid hydrogen fuel. It smashed into the top of the tank,spilling liquid oxygen.

Seen by Vincent and everyone,including Mission Control,a flash fire erupted around Challenger,its fuel tank and boosters.

Then came the sound of static,the only sound of the explosion occuring as unseen by TV cameras,the exhaust trail

suddenly became an elongated trail of flame which began to balloon outward into a ball of flame.

As the trail of flame began to puff outward into a fireball,the solid rocket boosters emerged,leaving behind

two large trails of smoke. Vincent watched as the camera cut to a wide view of the explosion which zoomed away,revealing a

booster emerging and leaving an exhaust trail. The cameras switched again,this time revealing the entire fireball

and a giant Y being left by the boosters along with smaller smoke trails,

indicating debris from Challenger and its fuel tank. Everyone saw what was happening,but everyone except for Vincent

continued cheering,not realizing what had gone wrong.

In Mission control in Houston,flight controllers were looking at their monitors above their consoles and computer screens

on their consoles,the computer screens displaying a series of S's,indicating static and loss of communication with Challenger.

From within Mission Control,came the conversation. "Flight director,we have negative contact,loss of downlink."

"Okay,all operators,watch everything carefully." Back in New York,the cheering continued,meanwhile,until Vincent loudly shouted

"EVERYONE QUIET! NOW!" A silent hush fell upon everyone including Above where Catherine and her work friends were

in time for everyone to hear from Mission Control,"Flight controllers here looking very carefully at the

situation,obviously a major malfunction." "We have no downlink."

The solid rocket boosters stopped flying,leaving a twisted Y as Mission Control destroyed them with a radio command.

At Mission control,a flight controller uttered "Flight director,range safety reports vehicle exploded."

Vincent and others heard the news from Mission Control,"We have a report that the vehicle has exploded,

We're looking at what can be done at this point." All of a sudden upon hearing what was said ,the various tunnel

dwellers & helpers began crying including Mouse in which Vincent was trying to comfort.

Everyone within the Tunnels including Catherine and her friends watched as debris fell toward the ocean.

A reporter was talking to a news anchorman, "Well,no one is saying anything,other than there has been an explosion,

Contingency procedures are under way,recovery forces have been sent out into the field. The

report is that the remains of the vehicle have landed somewhere in the ocean. We don't know

how far,but there's no explanation on what happened about ninety seconds after liftoff and it was a picture perfect

liftoff,suddenly as you saw it there,it exploded,we have no word on what happened." Catherine quickly,without saying a word,

rushed toward an elevator and pressed the button for the lobby,once she was inside.

Once in the lobby,Catherine rushed out and flagged down a taxicab. Inside the cab she told the female driver to take her to

Central Park. On the way there,she heard various news reports from the radio on the space shuttle Challenger including

from WABC news. Upon arriving, Catherine paid her fare & headed toward a large culvert.

She tapped out a message on a pipe of her arrival and slid open a false wall covering the entrance to the Tunnels.

She slid the wall shut and proceeded through the various tunnels,surrounded by an eerie silence.

She arrived where Vincent and others were.A teenage girl came up to her and said "Catherine,did you see what happened on TV?"

"Yes of course." Catherine responded. "How can-"Vincent paused,"how can someone's joys about a teacher,even a teacher's

be taken away like this?" Vincent spoke to Catherine. "I don't know,Vincent,I don't know

how or why it happened." Catherine said. "And I don't know if there is going to be another teacher to go to space,if any."

Mouse came to them, and started to say something, but Vincent interrupted-"Mouse,there's no need to take things down right now."

All around them were posters,newspaper,magazine articles and other things on Christa McAuliffe and the other shuttle astronauts laying around,most of them on Father's desk.

Later,Vincent,Catherine & Father were in the Tunnels watching President Reagan give a live address to everyone about the shuttle tragedy.

"Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss."

"Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we've never

lost an astronaut in flight,we've never had a tragedy like this..."

Once Reagan's address ended,Vincent switched off the television & he and Catherine retired to his chamber.

The scene faded to a shot of the Empire State Building as its lights were turned off in remembrance of the shuttle's crew.

The End.


End file.
